Attention! A new scary movie has just arrived for this upcoming spooky season. The Conjuring: Last Rites is the latest addition to the Conjuring movie series. Released on Sept. 5, 2025, this movie is 2 hours, 15 minutes and is rated R. The series is based on the real-life couple, Ed and Lorraine Warren and their experiences dealing with the supernatural. The Warrens travel to help different families and get rid of the demons that are haunting them, each movie portraying a true story they lived through. The Conjuring: Last Rites features the Smurl family, who are allegedly dealing with multiple demons haunting their house in 1986. 

Before going to see the movie myself, I did some research to see what others thought of the movie. It was given a 59% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 78% on Fandango. Reviews under the category of “watch value” all said that it was terrible and a waste of time. Well, let’s see. 

The movie starts with Mr. and Mrs. Warren visiting a shop owner who is experiencing demonic behavior in her shop. It begins very ominously because the shop owner talks about something being there and watching her, but you don’t know what it is.

Mrs. Warren, who is pregnant, goes to find out who could be watching the shop lady. As she does, she discovers a mirror. This mirror starts calling her closer, making her want to touch it. The second Mrs. Warren touches the mirror, and she goes into labor. While delivering her baby, Mrs. Warren starts to see demons hiding in the corner of her room, coming for her and her baby. Her baby is then delivered as a stillborn. The devastated Mr. and Mrs. Warren hold their baby tight and pray to god to bring her back. The baby all of a sudden wakes up, shocking the doctors and nurses. This baby is the Warrens’ miracle. As the baby, whom they named Judy, grows up, she starts to develop the same abilities as her mother: she is able to see the demons around her.

 Flash forward, the Warrens are older, and Judy is now all grown up. A couple of hours away in West Pittston, Pennsylvania, the Smurl family of 8 is celebrating Heather’s, one of the Smurl’s daughters, christening. Heather receives a mirror from her grandparents, John and Mary Smurl, who say they bought it from a local thrift store. Are you starting to see the connection? The writers use the Smurl’s dog as dramatic irony to show how the dog knows something is off about the mirror that the family doesn’t, when the dog starts barking at the mirror instantly.

Immediately after the addition of the mirror, the Smurls start experiencing demonic activity in their house. It starts subtly, like dolls floating, seeing shadows of demons in the basement, and a mysterious force moving things by itself. The haunting reaches a climax when one night Heather and her sister Dawn decide the mirror is freaking them out, so they throw it away. The next day, Dawn is punished by the demons, and she starts to throw up blood and glass, the same glass from the mirror.

Back at the Warrens’ house, Judy’s demonic visions are getting worse. One day, after hearing of Warren’s friend, Father Gordon’s passing, Judy traces his steps and finds out he visited the Smurls’ house briefly before he died. She goes to visit, causing her mother and father to follow. While all are there, they decide to help the Smurls. The mirror comes back to claim Judy with the demon writing “miss me?” on the wall after she discovered the mirror in the attic. The demon takes over her body and uses her to harm the Warrens and the Smurls and stop them from leaving the house. It becomes a full circle moment that the mirror returns to take Judy’s life as it was supposed to do many years before. However, the Warrens defeat the demonic spirit and make it out alive.

 I thought this movie was very scary; it had many jump scares and spooky scenes that left everyone in the audience frightened. The suspense in each scary scene added lots of excitement to the movie, making it very entertaining. The storyline was interesting and everything blended well together, making sense. 

I would rate this movie a 10/10 as it checked every box. Was it scary? Check. Was it entertaining? Check, did the story line make sense? Check. Would I recommend this? Check. If you enjoy scary movies or are a fan of the other Conjuring movies, I would 100% recommend The Conjuring: Last Rites.